An essay — March 19, 2020
As the world grapples with the reality of the coronavirus pandemic there’s been considerable attention paid to fictional storylines. The now familiar roll call includes films like “Outbreak” (1995), starring Dustin Hoffman and an escaped monkey, and Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” (2011) and books by Dean Koontz, Stephen King and Michael Crichton (who had a day job as a doctor). But let’s not forget the granddaddy of the contemporary genre: the novel “Earth Abides.” Published in 1949 – in the shadow of George Orwell’s masterwork “Nineteen Eighty-Four” – “Earth Abides” asked the unsettling question, “what if…” in the devastating wake of a global killer virus.
BookPage/Web Exclusive, October 14, 2014
The baffling 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor gets true-crime treatment in Tinseltown, a compelling interweaving of star power, the machinations of power brokers and the desperation of the wannabes and the washed up. Together they provide the book’s apt subtitle: “Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood.”
BookPage, November 2013
Fifty years after gunshots rang out in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza, the collective memory continues to celebrate the life and achievements of John F. Kennedy, and to ponder his death. Authors and publishers are also remembering the November 22nd anniversary with dozens of new books on Kennedy’s assassination and legacy. We’ve poured through the stacks to point readers toward some of the best.
Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000)
As long as there are teenagers, there will be teen idols. From the vintage “Frankie” Sinatra to Elvis Presley, from the Beatles to David Cassidy, from the New Kids on the Block to ‘N Sync, the names and faces may change with the decades, but the emotions that drive the phenomenon do not. Teen idols are a rite of passage for pre-teens and early teens. They are dream mates who fuel romantic daydreams, and provide a safe release for hormonally-charged emotions. After all, unlike flesh-and-blood boyfriends and girlfriends, the teen idols make no demands.
BookPage, March 2007
A woman who played a commanding role in one of history’s darkest chapters, Leni Riefenstahl—Hitler’s favorite filmmaker—went on to deftly rewrite her own history. But lies have a way of catching up with liars. In a pair of new biographies, Riefenstahl, perhaps the single most controversial filmmaker who ever lived, has been found out.
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